The failure of women to apply for director-level jobs is a significant factor in maintaining the glass ceiling in the workplace, according to an industry expert.

The failure of women to apply for director-level jobs is a significant factor in maintaining the glass ceiling in the workplace, according to an industry expert.

Fewer than one candidate in 20 for the top advertised jobs is female, judging by the 20-year experience of Glasgow-based executive recruitment firm Macdonald Kinnaird.

Yet when women do apply, they stand a far better chance than men of making the short-list and at least as good a chance of landing the job.

The latest annual study by the Equality and Human Rights Commission claims there is a "worrying trend" of reversal or stalled progress on workplace equality, with fewer women than a year ago holding top jobs in 12 of 25 categories studied. It said progress was moving "at a snail's pace" and that the glass ceiling looked more like reinforced concrete.

Douglas Kinnaird, of Macdonald Kinnaird, said companies were less willing to appoint women to the top roles in more difficult economic times. "There is a clear message from clients in general that other things being equal, they have a strong preference to bring in a woman at any level - but that has quite evidently fallen by the wayside since companies began facing difficulties."

In the past 10 years, his firm has received 4834 applications for management roles, with only 4.8% from women. Yet 18% were shortlisted, and 5% appointed.

That was a slight improvement on the previous decade, which saw only 3.6% of applications from women. Yet in that period, 11% of those shortlisted and an impressive 18% of those appointed were female.

Kinnaird said: "I am very sympathetic to the difficulties faced by women in business, it is a very real issue, and I would not have monitored the gender split if I was not interested." But he added: "If women don't apply, they can't break the glass ceiling."

He said Scotland had no women managing partners of any law firms, despite 55% of all law trainees being female, nor any managing partners of accountancy firms despite 50% of trainees being female.

Kinnaird said: "We know of a large-scale UK utility which carried out a positive discrimination exercise for three years in their recruitment and promotion, but after three years they found it had made no difference."

Industry-wide research suggested that structural obstacles included not only chauvinism and the greater propensity of men to push themselves forward, but also a reluctance of men to act as mentors to younger women "because of the potential for gossip", Kinnaird said. He added: "Mentoring in an organisation is super-important, people can kid themselves that promotion is all on merit but there are always personal views both positive and negative."

Ian Wittet, managing director of Edinburgh-based non-executive headhunter Coburn Blair, commented: "On the non-executive side, women are getting a pretty good hearing. But there is a shortage of women at the top of dirty' industries like energy, and though they are in great demand, there is a shortage of availability of people with the right experience.

"If only 5% are applying for jobs, I suspect that is because there only 5% available."